A Place in the Woods

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Skin, Rack and Stack

I don't mean to imply that building a short log cabin is a summer picnic. In my case, the project started as the most frustrating experience I'd had in a long time. I was one of a three-man crew for the recreation commission, and our job was to build a small cross country ski shelter. As a team, we had little construction experience, and certainly not in the specialty of log building. At any rate, we did have a free source of rot-resistant red cedar, and began by peeling the bark off the logs that met our criteria: seasoned, straight and no less than 8" in diameter. We came up with a number of solid 10" logs about 12' in length, so they became our posts, to be sunk 3 1/2' into the earth, with 7 1/2' or more left aboveground to provide at least 6" for top trimming. It happens that this is the way we opted to anchor our structure.

Surely other methods—perimeter footings for the code-conscious or spaced stone piers for the sake of tradition—would work equally well and probably even be better in some situations. To prepare the uprights, we used a chain saw and a hatchet to cut two flat sides opposite faces for all posts but the corner ones, which were flattened on adjacent sides.

It's important that these cuts be parallel to the center line of each log, rather than following its taper. Once this was done, we cut a 1 1/2" X 1 1/2" channel, or mortise, down the middle of each flat, using the chain saw for the rough work and trimming up with a framing chisel. Positioning the posts was just a matter of planning. It was necessary to line them up precisely, and to temporarily brace each one diagonally. The spacing between the posts was kept at a uniform 7' distance by placing boards, cut to the same length as the infill logs, between each of the uprights.

String stretched between batter boards insured that the postholes were dug accurately; by fastening the cord 1 ' outside the center line of each row, it was a simple matter to measure inward this same distance to align the marked center of each post.

At first, "we used a

joinery technique twice as difficult as needed."

LAYING OUT A LOG

ILLUSTRATIONS BY DON OSBY Before doing any measuring or cutting, the log should be peeled and supported in a sturdy sawbuck.

1. SQUARE-CUTTING AN END - Cut a piece of heavy paper or builder's felt into an 18" X 72" strip. Wrap it 1 1/2 turns around the log, match the paper's edges, and draw a line around the outer edge with indelible pencil.

2. FINDING THE CENTER LINE - Sight down the length of the log while a mate guides your eye with a plumb line. Mark the center point, then repeat the procedure at the log's opposite end. Snap a chalk line between these two points, then use a carpenter's level and pencil to draw vertical center lines down from the chalk line at each end.

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